There’s been a lot of upheaval in Alberta politics lately. Many Albertans are looking for a new home. I’m here to offer you one.

Alberta politics is currently defined by too many by the United Conservative Party and the New Democrats. The party I lead, the Alberta Party received almost ten percent of the vote in 2019 and continues to be a viable option for many Albertans, who have been steadily increasing their memberships and donations to the party. The Alberta Party is an important voice for rural Alberta, because we believe that it is rural communities who should determine how they are governed, not MLAs and bureaucrats in Edmonton.

Many of you – far too many – will be asking right now who is the Alberta Party? Are we UCP- or NDP-lite? Progressive or conservative? I’m asked these questions everywhere I go.

I agree with Premier Kenney that we cannot continue to spend in an unsustainable manner. The government spends far too much money and needs to be cut back. But the current government has failed to get our finances under control. The NDP also had their kick at the can, and the province’s small business owners, farmers, and taxpayers can’t afford that either.

The NDP and the UCP have many things in common, actually. They obsessively work to control, centralizing everything in Edmonton. Most importantly, though, they are the same because boiled down to the bones, they both define their parties by their belief for what the role of government should be. The UCP believe that government is a problem to be solved. The NDP believe that government is the solution, regardless of the problem.

The Alberta Party, meanwhile, see Albertans as the answer. We have no rigid view of government, because government is not what matters. Albertans do.

Albertans are a unique people. We are tough. On average we work more than other Canadians. We earn more too, as a result of that hard work. And we donate to charitable causes more than anyone else in the country, a fact that remains true despite an oil downturn and despite a pandemic. We believe that a good idea and hard work can change the world and make everyone a little bit richer. We believe that while it’s up to the individual to roll up their sleeves and build something great, that individual was forged and supported by a community that also needs a hand-up every once in a while. That’s a lesson we especially know is true in rural Alberta.

The Alberta Party believes in community. We must support communities large and small because they are the heart and soul of our everyday lives. We won’t download costs to the municipalities like the UCP have done, and we won’t try and take away local control and overtax you like the NDP did. The provincial Legislature does not know best. You do.

The Alberta Party stands for the people of Alberta and their spirit, their values, their ideals. An Alberta Party government would empower Albertans to be their best, a formula that has worked before for our province.

And so if you believe in a government for Albertans, one that believes your community knows better than the government in Edmonton, join us. If you believe Albertans do their best when they’re building something, join us. And if you believe the senseless, partisan division of Albertans does no good for province, join us. The Alberta Party is here for you, because it is here for Albertans.

Jacquie Fenske is the Acting Leader of the Alberta Party, and served as a PC MLA and Strathcona County councillor